Nexon’s adorable and frankly underrated free-to-play sandbox Mabinogi is preparing to celebrate a decade of life come March 27th, and that means events galore – in fact, some have already begun, including the Festia anniversary zone and miniquests, the Cave of Trials challenge, and the Sneaky Developer quest.

Coming up later in the month are daily and weekly giveaways and handouts, the Festival Troublemakers Event. My favorites, however, are the Popularity Contest and the crafting quest known only as The Fattening. Don’t forget to grab your 10th anny gift box too!

On this week’s show, Bree and Justin cruise into a wild week jam-packed with updates and a full-fledged MMO reboot on top of everything else. It’s all they can do to hang on to the bucking bronco of news without being flung off into side topics, but they’ll do their best!

It’s the Massively OP Podcast, an action-packed hour of news, tales, opinions, and gamer emails! And remember, if you’d like to send in your own letter to the show, use the “Tips” button in the top-right corner of the site to do so.

Commanders, today is your day: Elite Dangerous’ Beyond – Chapter One goes live this afternoon after today’s lengthy downtime. As we’ve previously noted, the update is free and rolls out to PC, PS4, and Xbox One simultaneously.

“Beyond – Chapter One introduces challenging Wing Missions, all-new megaship interactions that allow for collection of data and cargo, and a range of major quality of life improvements including changes to the crime and punishment mechanics, visual planetary enhancements, an overhaul of the mission rewards system and the addition of a trade data overlay that will help Commanders find the most profitable trades in the Milky Way.”

Expect a continuation of the ongoing Thargoid plotline, a new combat ship, and more clues about the Guardians too. We’ve got the brand-new cinematic short video and new images down below. Good luck in there, and if you spot my husband flying around, tell him to log out and get back to work.

“This one-of-a-kind prize will allow you to name a class of Mega Ship in Elite Dangerous,” says the company’s auction listing. “All future Mega Ships added to the game of this class will bear your name for all to see. The winning bidder will also will also get to see this new variant of Mega Ship before anyone else.” It’s currently sitting at £1,021 (almost $1500) right now with about five hours to go. Check out the whole roster of loot on Ebay for a good cause!

Over the last couple of years, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has been petitioning for changes to the DMCA to help preserve old video games – to eliminate server-based DRM and legalize emulators for games that had been abandoned. As of 2015, the Library of Congress granted the request, but the exemption very specifically didn’t cover closed-down MMORPGs.

Then, in October of 2017, the US Copyright Office effectively renewed the exception and reopened the argument, in part because of a Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment (MADE) proposal to consider even massively-multiplayer games on the table for archival purposes. Even if you have no interest in playing on an emulator for an ancient MMORPG, surely you can see the value in allowing future historians the opportunity to see these worlds first-hand instead of through blurry YouTube videos. The code still exists, after all; outdated laws simply keep them closed to all of us.

We’re just a week away from the launch of Elite Dangerous: Beyond – Chapter One, that fascinating space abomination of colons and dashes! Frontier made the announcement this morning, pleasing commanders on all three platforms.

“The wait is nearly over as Elite Dangerous: Beyond – Chapter One arrives on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on February 27. Beyond, the third Elite Dangerous season will be free for all players, and will focus on community-requested enhancements to the overall player experience. Alongside those core foundational changes, new in-game content will progress the ever-expanding player-driven storyline and give pilots across the galaxy new tools to shape the ongoing narrative.”

As we’ve previously covered, the update buffs the criminal system, adds new notoriety levels, pulls GalNet news into the game, implements new brokers and contacts, and improves trading. And yes, it’s freeeeeeee. New pics and the trailer down below!

Dark Age of Camelot has a busy February planned, starting with a new patch that includes a mess of class, RvR, and battleground changes. Broadsword promised “more frequent events” going forward, including a pair of new RvR frontier activities.

Speaking of events, Jack Frost’s Frozen Cavern and the Ghost Keep are both open for business through February 13th. After that date, the game will switch over to swooning with a trio of Valentine’s quests.

The studio also published its first “Grab Bag” Q&A of the year, tackling some of the more nitty-gritty questions that players have about the game’s mechanics. One interesting tidbit from this past week’s grab bag is a hint of future race/class combinations.

“Yes, we are planning to open up a few more pairings when the new race respec feature is in,” Broadsword said. “The recent server and client stability issues have pushed back that feature a bit, but it’s still on track for the first half of this year.”

Elite Dangerous has once again become the battleground between griefers and everybody else, this time with real-life stakes.

A few weeks ago, the Elite community banded together to come to the aid of CMDR DoveEnigma13, a 39-year-old player dying of cancer. In his honor, players and Frontier announced what they called The Enigma Expedition, a month-long, open expedition throughout Colonia. Hundreds of players signed up to join in the journey, including DoveEnigma13 and his young daughter on what was likely be their last journey together in the game. Frontier even chipped in a huge megaship to anchor the event.

But midway through the expedition, griefers showed up to bomb and disable that ship. Because of course they did. Oh, and there’s a contingent of nihilists on the forums providing them cover. Because of course they are.

It’s the year of Elite: Dangerous’ Beyond DLC, and this space sim isn’t heedlessly jumping into the deep cosmos without careful course planning.

A second beta build for Beyond (say that three times fast) is currently on the test server. There is no major headlining feature of this patch, but there’s plenty of interesting tweaks and adjustments that will have an effect on practically all spheres of gameplay.

Engineers are going to find that they can progress faster through the ranks if they have a strong reputation. The studio did a balance pass on blueprint stats, added a “civilization filter” to the game map, increased the yield of minerals from asteroids, added boron and lead as potential mining mats, and gave black market smugglers more incentive to engage in their shady dealings.

Welcome to the Beta Club, Legends of Aria! Enjoy the full benefits of membership, such as free snackies, the comfy couch, and increased attention from players.

Legends of Aria – that’s the game once known as Shards Online – started its first closed beta test today, and this one is hitting all the right notes with a continuation of alpha player characters and a lack of NDA. The studio is also selling founder’s packs for those who want to secure some extras prior to launch.

The CBT adds a lot of content and balance tunning as well. There’s a new region (Eastern Frontier), two additional cities (Helm and Pyros Landing), the Contempt world dungeon, the return of the Catacombs dungeon, the new Karma and Conflict system, and a more minimalistic user interface.

Massively OP Readers, you are clear for take-off. Please cross-check the cabin, assume flight positions, and break out the best aerial screenshots you have. Fair flying and Godspeed!

Rafael zooms into view for our headlining picture today from a game that he has only recently discovered: Blade and Soul. Oh, I josh, I josh. Rafael’s the site’s premiere B&S evangelist, so beware if he corners you in a crowded tavern!

“It wouldn’t be Blade and Soul if it didn’t have interesting outfits and Wushu gliding,” he said. “Case in point? My Gunner, Haliee, gliding around in her jammies. Yup. She can fly around in her cute night shirt complete with little cat patterns. Here she is as she approaches her landing. ‘The runway is clear zero-niner.'”

So here’s the deal. Everybody who owns any version of the game can access the beta for Beyond – Chapter one today, even if you’ve never picked up the Horizons season pass. That won’t hold true for launch, but it does for beta. The exception is on console; consolers can’t play the beta at all, but they will be able to buy the update.

The most important advice? “We wouldn’t advise taking time off to play the beta first thing tomorrow, as we don’t have an exact time that this will go live!” Telling it like it is! Check out the whole explainer on the official forums and let us know if you’re diving in!